Anderson, Luther, 1880-1940.

Taught school in Kansas and became principal of the Lindsborg, Kansas, high school, 1901-1903; 1907-1911, taught European history at the Imperial University in Peking; returned in 1911 as special correspondent for the Chicago Daily News, and travelled through China and the Philippines until 1915; 1915-1920, taught at High School of Commerce in Springfield, Mass.; taught part-time at Northeastern University, 1920-1928; 1928 began teaching at American International College in Springfield.

Taught school in Kansas and became principal of the Lindsborg, Kansas, high school, 1901-1903; 1907-1911, taught European history at the Imperial University in Peking; returned in 1911 as special correspondent for the Chicago Daily News, and travelled through China and the Philippines until 1915; 1915-1920, taught at High School of Commerce in Springfield, Mass.; taught part-time at Northeastern University, 1920-1928; 1928 began teaching at American International College in Springfield.

Luther Anderson was born on March 20, 1880 to a Swedish farming family in Salina, Kansas, one of the few Swedish land grant settlements in this country. He attended Bethany Academy and earned his B.A. at Bethany College, both Swedish institutions. After receiving his three year teaching certificate, he taught in a district school near Lindsborg, Kansas and in 1901 became principal of the Lindsborg high school. He entered the senior class at Yale, received his B.A. in 1903, his M.A. in English and history in 1904 and his Ph.D. in history in 1906. His dissertation, "History of the Salzburg Germans in Georgia" was published in the German American Annals monograph series.

Anderson married Helen Marie Carlson of Meriden, Connecticut, on September 8, 1907. Following a visit to Kansas, the couple left for Peking, China where Luther had accepted a three year position as professor of European history at the Imperial University, an institution established by the Chinese government and conducted according to western ideas. The Andersons had one child, Ida Lillian, born July 29, 1908 at Rocky Point, Peitaiho, their summer cottage in China.

In July, 1911, he returned to America to lecture on far eastern politics and diplomacy at the University of Illinois. With the outbreak of the Chinese revolution (October, 1911), Anderson returned to Peking as special correspondent for the Chicago Daily News . In this position, he travelled extensively throughout the Chinese Empire and the Philippines until 1915.

Anderson returned to the United States in 1915 and settled in Springfield, Massachusetts where he became head of the department of history and economics at the High School of Commerce in Springfield (1915-1920). In 1920 he began working as a special agent for the Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company and teaching evening classes in economics and business subjects at the Springfield branch of Northeastern University.

In 1928 he began teaching English and aesthetics at the American International College in Springfield. The American International College was originally a school for foreign students but changes in immigration laws brought a shift in the school's population to American students. While at A.I.C., he developed a school of Fine Arts modeled on the School of Art in Bethany College and the work of Sven Birger Sandzen, who had been head of the art school since 1894. Anderson remained active as a writer, teacher and lecturer, participating in the civic, cultural and religious life of the community until his death in 1940.